I know what you mean, I love them and hate them. Systemic weedkiller is the only way, though, that I know of. I couldn't recommend specific brand for lawns though. That's the only place I let them do what they like.

The Verdone stuff that Dan2012 suggested is good stuff. I used the concentrate at our last house and also here at our new one. One treatment a year, about now, will get you a good start. If you only have a few weeds in the lawn, the pre-mixed spray might be better.

It's also worth looking at Vitax Lawn Clear, as it has alternative weedkillers in it that can target other weeds. A strategy of using both - a full lawn treatment using one brand concentrate once a year and then spray using the other brand throughout the rest of the year should cover most problems and lead to a weed free lawn.

Mind you, a sunny day spent sat on the lawn cutting out the weeds and back filling with a fine soil mix and seed is not an unpleasant thing in my mind

I use verdone....it's great on lawns as it doesn't kill or mark the grass....it makes the weeds grow fast and in doing so they kill themselves....I use a stronger solutionthat's stated on the bottle though, not much just an extra 5ml

you have dig the root up and make sure non of the flowers do not go to seed ,its on going battle,you could make dandelion wine ,coffee or a extra for your salad.

If you try to cut out dandelions you have to get out every single bit of root otherwise you're just propagating them by root cuttings. There are several name variety of dandelion for salad but they are forced to make them less bitter. There isn't any point in worrying about the seed heads for most people as road verges provide an ample source of seed. I am going to have ro rely on Roundup for the borders.

Actually Patty, Verdone is safe with children and pets but weather you feed it to them is subjective, says so on front of the box,see amazon,clear enough pic.

Most important factor in using hormone weedkillers, lawn ones mostly are, the weeds must be growing really well which means warm nights. Forget day time temperatures, you need warmish nights for best results. Can be lovely during the day but with cold nights growth is very slow, as i'm sure you all know!

Organically, get a tortoise - brilliant eradicators of dandelion - in fact I used to grow / transplant potfuls to satisfy their cravings. Sadly after 40 years I don't have them anymore (thanks to the vicious frosts of 3 years ago) - once again I have a dandelion problem!

If you've ever had the delight and joy of seeing a bullfinch picking the seeds off a dandelion clock, you'll do as I do and leave them for the birds. My lawn is full of weeds (or wild flowers- depends on your viewpoint) Daisies, dandelions, violets, Bugle, clover and a bit of grass. This morning I watched a great spotted woodpecker drumming on the lawn, and pulling out worms, then flying off with them, presumably to feed his babies. It's not a bowling green, but its adequate as a green space for the summer. It only gets cut on highest settting of the mower, I only feed with blood fish and bone, and never use wedkiller on it.

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